Pokemon: Journey for the Storm's Edge
by PureLightningGuardian
Summary: This is the story of Edward of Vermillion city, starting out in Kanto as a Pokemon trainer. After staying behind for a week, he faces more more than what others would have initially. A trainer who proves to never have the best of fortune's hand, he and anyone who joins him is in for a different journey than most. (OC story) -Any Reviews Appreciated-
1. Prologue: The day before

"**Pokemon: Journey for the Storm's Edge"**

**Prologue**

(*Disclaimer: I in no way own any of Pokémon's material, characters, etc. and give all rights and credit of which to the original owners.)

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_Finally! Now that I'm ten, it's my turn to get out there too! I can't wait!_

"That's what I said a week ago…"

The young child lied there in the otherwise empty bedroom, occupying the top of the two bunk beds. It was one of the most beautiful days there inVermillion, a small seaside town in the Kanto Region. Even with that, the boy just couldn't make the best of it in his current mood. For all that he cared, he just wanted the day to be over as soon as possible.

In earshot he heard the sounds of children outside, shouting commands to the Pokémon that caused the sounds of thuds and explosions moments after. He let out a sigh into the room that was swallowed up quickly by silence.

For the last seven days, this is how the evenings would go. Him lying there; the children batting outside; the boy's mind wandering and thinking about when that will get to be _him._

He didn't mind it really. He understood why his mother wanted him to stay 'just a bit longer'. A journey meant going just about anywhere but home, and for a long time. Because he understood that so well, he'd agreed to stay until next week.

But now- after having spent the whole week with his family- all there was to do was wait it out until tomorrow. Being the child that he was, he quickly grew bored of anything that was left to do in his home town, which by now was not much. As his anxiety to become a trainer became stronger, everything seemed to be less and less amusing.

"…Darn it, Dad," the boy though aloud. "Why couldn't you have stayed for more than just one day?"

"_I have to get back to Goldenrod you all." He had said back on Wednesday. "They're supposedly getting rowdy…sorry about this. I'd like to stay longer, but I don't get that option."_

"_Don't overwork yourself," Was the only real comment his mother had to offer as they all joined in a hug. He couldn't read the expression on her face._

_His dad had kneeled down to his level and ruffled his hair like he always did; he'd grown to dread this with his father's visits, as it always meant goodbyes._

_Before he stepped on the aircraft that waited for him on the shoreline, he wished him the best of luck on his journey._

The fact that his father had left so early had put him in the lesser sort of a good mood. On top of that, he's been having these vague, rather distant dreams.

"_Hey! What did you do to my Pokémon? Are you insane!?"_

_A figure dressed mostly in red stood in his line of vision; his vision showed with blotchy spots of white, like it was snowing or something..._

_Even though it was also dark, he could make out the silhouette of a winged Pokémon looming behind the person. It seemed to be on fire._

_Then his sight changed direction to the ground, where he saw a yellow figure. He couldn't tell what it was as the attention was quickly set back on the person in the distance, who had yet to utter a word._

"_Don't be silent now! If you think I'm gonna let you get away with hurting him like that, you've got another thing coming!"_

_The voice of the person out of his vision shouted something. But as he drifted out of the dream, he caught a glimpse of lightning clashing with fire…_

It was the reason he wasn't just sleeping the day away. The visions would leave him in a cold sweat. When he took the issue to his mother she couldn't make heads or tails of it, assuming the excitement of becoming a trainer was overwhelming him.

After fighting against the growing weight of his eyelids for as long as he could, the trainer of tomorrow finally, unwillingly fell asleep.

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-This is the first story I've written, so reviews or feedback of any kind are invited of course.

I will continue to update this story, so for those of you who take interest, stick around and give any suggestions as you may.


	2. A Journey before it begins

**Chapter 1**

**"A Journey before the beginning?"**

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"…Told you I'd do it." The young boy murmured half asleep, pumping a fist into the air. He rolled in his bed, eventually falling from what was the top bunk. He flailed around in the tangled sheet and sat up on the floor with a start.

"Ouch…what a way to ruin it." He moaned rubbing the back of his head. "That was probably the best version of what could possibly be close to the real thing…"

"…Are you really gonna just sit there and say nothing?"

His little sister sat upright in the bottom bunk looking at him, her mid-length black hair a mess in aftermath of the great rest.

"…That's the third time this week you've fallen out of that bed. Maybe I should take the top one..." She yawned, rubbing her eyes wearily.

"Knock yourself out Kryst," He shrugged. "I leave today anyway, remember? I'm finally ten."

"Oh right…" She said in acknowledgement, but rather plainly. "…well, I'm going back to sleep, so I'll see you later."

Before he even had the chance to correct her on that statement, she was deep into sleep, breathing with what was a slight snore.

_Her and mom…I'll never understand how they doze off so quickly. _He thought inwardly.

Shaking his head, he went to grab his bag. He'd pre-packed in late night anxiety the day before, so everything was already set. Next he grabbed his jacket: a one-of-a-kind blended green-to-black jacket with lightning bolt stripes. He'd been fortunate to not grow out of it, as it was still pretty big on him.

Then was his hair. Story goes he'd been so awestruck with the color of his jacket that he'd had his hair colored to match. He had a neighbor with a Smeargle who skillfully traced the edges of his hair with green. Needless to say, his mom and dad had blown a fuse. Back then, he had been only eight years old. However, after lots of fussing, begging and everything in-between from the boy, the style stayed.

He smiled at his reflection in the mirror as he reminisced nostalgias on everything before deciding it was time to head out. He made a run for the door.

As he turned the corner though, his mother stood there with arms crossed, directly in his path, looking him directly in the eyes. "Edward, honey, I'm still skeptical about this journey of yours. Are you sure you want to go?"

"Yes, mom!" He droned. "And you said I could go! We agreed that if I stayed for my birthday, I could go the week after!"

His mother's look weakened. "To be honest, that was your father's idea…"

"Mmmm."

"If you're going to go, can you please start using more words?"

"Okay, sorry, I will."

With that, his mother stepped from the doorway to open it for him. "Get going then, before I change my mind." She joked

His green eyes brightened along with a smile before he embraced her in a hug. "Thanks mom! You won't regret it, I swear!"

With that, he bolted out the door with a 'see you later!', sprinting faster than he ever did out of his hometown of Vermillion city, the cool feeling and smell of the sea air getting stronger as he ran toward the direction of the piers.

"Ok. I'm off for Pallet town I guess."

His mother suddenly remembered something of importance watching his figure grow further away.

"Don't forget to call your father when you get there!" She shouted after him.

He seemed to be running away at that, all the more quickly.

Edward always tended to run with his eyes fixated to the ground ahead of him, so it was only by the time that he stopped to catch his breath that he looked up, spotting the cruise ship that was slowly getting into motion.

"Wait!"

He broke full speed as he realized that the S.S. Anne was departing, slowly putting distance between itself and the dock. He hurriedly blurted out apologies as he bumped and shoved people to keep chase. He jumped a couple of boxes and crates to get higher up, making an attempt to jump across and onto the deck.

It would have gone flawlessly, had the railing of the ship not been wet from the ocean air.

He fell back as his foot slipped from the railing, making a grab for something that wasn't there. Just as he expected to fall into the ocean, he was caught and hoisted over by the collar of his Jacket.

Once he recovered from the shock, he got a better look at his savior- an older crewman of the ship, giving him a stern look.

"Are you out of your mind, kid? You better not be trying to hitch a ride on _this_ ship!"

In response, Edward simply flashed the ticket his parent gave to him with a weak smile. "Just running late, sir."

The man seemed somewhat surprised, dropping him the short distance from which he'd been holding him to the wooden deck, leaving the poor boy to stagger for a moment. He simply left off, telling him not to pull any more stunts like that while aboard.

Edward let out a sigh in exasperation as he fixed his collar. _What a way to start the journey. I was supposed to say out of trouble._

He'd have to be more careful, he told himself. His parents had warned him that kids without Pokémon while traveling weren't exactly left alone, so he'd have to be discrete until he got to pallet. That was the true difficulty of living in vermillion- basically the only one.

He proceeded to an empty cabin where he planned to wait out the cruise to pallet town. If he didn't, most conversations he could have would end at 'Sorry, but I don't have any Pokémon'. It was a ship crowded with trainers for crying out loud! He felt boredom just thinking about it.

Then again, he could have easily taken the bus to pallet and saved half the time. Only thing was…he despised it.

But no, he think about that. Not today.

He closed the door to his cabin on a trainer who was about to question him on battling, feeling somewhat bad for it. He lied there in the furnished room, taking the twin-size bed that was situated in the corner. With the soothing sound of the ocean close by and the rocking caused by the waves, Edward didn't find it hard to drift off in slumber. It was just like home.

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	3. Odd One Out

**Chapter 2**

"**Odd One Out"**

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Edward awoke to the sound of the foghorn blaring nearby. After a moment to regain composure, he stood to get a look out of the window.

The ship was no longer moving, the only remaining motion being that of the rocking by the waves. Looking out the window he saw past the docking station to see a naturally worn path through vast green plain- in the distance, a small town with an abundance of smaller, comfy looking houses.

"So that's pallet? It's so much more different from Vermillion." He said in awe before he gave a small laugh. '_There's actually lots of grass here. It's dumb, but I'm kind of jealous. I never really understood why grass didn't grow back i-'_

The horn sounded once again, reminding him what he was here to do. He grabbed his bag from the bed and bolted out of the room, in fear that the S.S. Anne might leave _with_ him this time. The halls were cleared out, so he assumed that everyone had already began exiting, and quickened his pace. He reached the top deck and spun on his heels, running for the crowd slowly getting off board. He was about to slow his rate as well before he stepped in a puddle of soapy water, cursing whoever left the it there as he hit the wall of the ship, flipping over it to fall. The boy shut his eyes as he waited for pain to ensue, but flinched in shock as something caught him before he would've hit the earth.

That grip on his collar was all too familiar.

Edward opened his eyes to see that same man from before, the two of them sharing a commonness as they both exclaimed 'you again?'

The man raised him higher to meet eye to eye. "So what's the excuse this time?"

Edward stammered to find "Oh come on! I just slipped."

"You don't say…"

"Yea!" The boy went on, not even catching the sarcasm. "I was minding my own business- not being a troublemaker, by the way- when I slip in a puddle, of all things! I may have been liable the first time, but whose fault is it now?"

The older man dropped him to his feet once again. "Those new recruits messing things up already. Well, I'll deal with that later, for now you're free to g-"

Edward had already made it off of the ship by the time the man realized he'd run off.

In the near center of Pallet, people were already beginning to gather for the event. This was more significant than other times: instead of a small gathering, the citizens of Kanto made a much bigger, more flashy event- in recognition for the amount of trainers.

Instead of the usual couple of trainers, at least a dozen trainers were coming in from just about every city in Kanto, summing up for the largest amount of new trainers-to-be in nearly a decade. Naturally, every inhabitant of pallet town was already seated and prepared, as the other arrivals were still making their way to the small town. The location in pallet for this event was none other than the lab of infamous Pokémon researcher professor Oak. Edward gazed at the lab that made little effort to tower over the townhomes. How did the professor become known for such great lengths with such a subtle study space?

Coming back to earth from his thoughts, he came to realize something:

He was the only newcomer of Vermillion.

The seating had been separated into cities, and behold- Edward sat alone in the vermillion section in regards of children. His family wouldn't be coming, on account of his family be stretched and strew across regions, not to mention insufficient funds for coming here in the first place.

The trainer-to-be glowered as he looked off in a random direction, deciding to look at the other sections of seating, his eyes fell on the Cinnabar row, noticing how abundant the population was- namely how many of the trainers were girls. Edward rested his chin in his palm, gazing at them all with a mix of intrigue and boredom.

He couldn't help but think things like '_They're so lucky….',_ having known few to none in his hometown.

Well, there was one...

The boy shook the thought off quickly. She had been his friend; nothing more than a friend to him. Also she was older than him. If what the older children of vermillion said were true, then age mattered for maturity. He hated to admit it sometimes, but he knew with utmost certainty that Lunar had been more mature than him.

So mature, in fact, that she saw no reason to wait up for him two weeks ago, when she was departing for your journey.

'_I'm not cutting you any slack just because you're younger,' she had said over her shoulder to him. 'You catch up on your own, and maybe your maturity will prove to go further than I thought.'_

Edge pouted as he looked back on it.

"Big words for a 10-year-old." He grumbled. "She's only two weeks- wait, scratch that- _13 days_ older than me. Why does she make it sound like such a big deal?" He argued aloud, not really expecting an answer.

"Who on earth are you talking to?"

",,,!'

Edward jolted upright in the folding chair, turning to the voice at his left side. A girl sat there, only slightly taller than him, but he could tell she was younger. Her hair- tied back in a ponytail- was that cyan color, and her eyes were an odd but warm looking brown. She wore the frilled up blue shirt to match the color of her jeans, but other than that just wore basic green tennis shoes.

Her having showed up so suddenly by his side made him back away from her like she was something to fear.

"You're really strange…." She sighed. "Why're you so jumpy?"

Edward raised an eyebrow at her. "_I'm_ strange? You snuck up on me! Of course that'd make me jumpy!"

"I've been here for a few minutes," she clarified, standing up to face him with hands on he hips. "You just don't know how to notice a girl, obviously."

"You're a _girl_?" He feigned shock, "Tch, could've fooled me. You're sizing me up like some bully. Besides, why are you getting after me? I don't know you and you certainly don't know me!"

"Right, right…." She said calmly. "Okay then, let's start over."

"Hi! I'm Tsunai Tomogaia, from Cinnibar Island." She put out a hand. "And what's your name, cutie?"

He was just about to welcome the change in attitude until that last part. He hastily pulled back the hand that was about to shake hers, his shock-ridden face looking a bit red despite having darker skin. The boy found himself stammering as he tried to say his own name. "Uh, I mean…"

She gave him a suspecting look before giggling at him. "A bit nervous, are we?"

"W-what? NO!" He denied, finally regaining the ability to speak. "I just don't like being called 'cute'."

"Jeez, touchy…I'm just messing around! Then again, you aren't all that cute anyway."

_Ouch...Well same to you. _The boy replied mentally, wondering whether he should be offended at all. "Well, that's enough of that."

The young boy's head cocked to the side as he tried to read her expression. Suddenly, he decided he really couldn't care anymore, and decided to drop it, not noticing the red shade of her face.

"…Edward."

Tsunai suddenly looked alert. "Hm?"

"Edward Jonestu," He repeated, adding his last name. "You asked for my name a second ago, remember?"

"Oh..wait, what?"

"What's the matter?"

"Didn't you just tell me?"

"Huh? No. I didn't…"

"Yes, you did! You said it was Edge! Or something like that."

He was left speechless for a moment as he tried to recall the moment. A while ago, he could only manage to stammer. Had 'Edge' really come from senseless babble?

Edward regained his focus finally getting back to the subject. "No-no-no-no-no you heard me wrong. Its just Edward, Ok?"

"Fine, but if it's okay with you, I'll just call you 'Edge'." She smiled. "It fits you."

He noticed she seemed really certain on the matter. And although he wanted to ask why, he decided to drop the subject as she wouldn't change her mind.

"Edge, huh?" He thought the nickname over, in the end giving a shrug. "Sure, why not? But I'm dropping it if I change my mind."

A person behind the two cleared their throat, causing Edge and Tsunai to spin around.

Another four girls were there with their arms crossed, all four giving the two a similar look of impatience.

"Are you two done, Tsunai?" the redheaded one asked. "I thought you said you would 'be right back'?" She emphasized the last part with the finger motion.

Edward turned to the cyan haired girl, who looked as if she'd just remembered. "Whoops…sorry Sheri."

"'Whoops'?" The girl repeated it like it was foreign to her. "Come on, Tsunai! You're better than that! What could have had you so caught up?"

Before she even had a chance to reply, all of their eyes fell on him. They stayed there for a moment before they exchanged a knowing look among one another.

The young trainer-to-be had a bad feeling in his gut.

The blond stepped up to him, looked him up and down- almost judgingly- and asked him his name. He almost replied when Tsunai covered his mouth.

"Don't answer that, Edge." She warned him. Realizing she'd let it slip herself, she slapped a hand over her forehead. He crossed his arms at her with a silent glare, as if saying 'Did you really just do that?.'

The group in front of the two joined in a laugh. Tsunai tried her best to make sense of the situation to them, as if knowing what was next. "No, no. It's not what you-"

"Tsunai, it's a little too early for boyfriends don't you think? "

Edward chuckled and shook his head as they continued joking around even as other children them began to snicker and join in too. However, when he looked over at Tsunai, she looked really red.

"What's the matter with you?" He whispered over to her. "You don't have to look so insulted." He joked.

She looked at him almost in disbelief. "How can you be so calm?"

"Oh come on! We're hardly friends. I haven't known you for more than five minutes! The idea is a total joke! Why be embarrassed, you know?"

"R-Right…" She hesitated, before gaining more confidence in his words. "If you say so."

For the first time, the girl with the lavender hair intervened. "Wow, are you hooked on him or what? Like, weren't you afraid of cooties, Tsunai?"

The girl in mention huffed in good humor. "Cooties aren't real, Hana."

The other girls suddenly looked as if they'd been shocked.

"T-that's not what you said last week!" They all reminded her, to which she could only offer an awkward laugh and shrug.

"Yep. She's hooked all right…" The fiery-haired girl murmured to Hana. The girl shook her head in disapproval at Tsunai. The cyan-haired girl was looking from the corner her worried eyes at the boy, twiddling her thumbs. He had his gaze averted toward the sky, as if in his thoughts.

"Like Goldeen on super rod." Hana added.

"Anyway," Sheri breathed loudly. "It's clear you two have something going on here, but do you mind if she comes back to sit with us again?"

Edward jolted his head back to face them. He had only heard the last part and nodded. "Not really. Go nuts, I guess." He said with uncertainty.

"Alright! Well come on then Tsunai. You can see your 'boyfriend' once we get our Pokémon."

The girls grouped around Tsunai, guiding her in the right direction with a gentle nudge. Her heels stayed stubbornly still for a moment before finally moving, but not before taking a moment to look back at him, Her expression a mix of worry and frustration.

Edward just stood there, his eyes following after her for a moment, wondering whether he should even be concerned about it all. Feeling more confused than he wanted to be about it, he went back to his section as the ceremony was finally getting ready to go.

There was only one thing that messed with his head.

what was such a big deal about him being a boy friend?

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	4. It Gets Worse

**Chapter 3**

"**It Gets Worse"**

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"Welcome!" The renowned professor began. "I am Professor Oak, and I just wanted to thank you all for joining with us today- as we see off our newest generation of trainers. We can all imagine the excitement in their little hearts as they're here on the beginning of the first of journeys, as most of us have been there ourselves."

There was a wave of applause through pallet, all of the empty seats from before now filled and occupied with citizens of all Kanto. Edward counted 100 other trainers-to-be as he stood onstage with them all in front of the crowd It only made it easier for the lone trainer of Vermillion to realize exactly how alone he was as his eyes landed on the still empty 'Vermillion' section.

Seriously!? What were the odds of that?

"Now, as you all can see from the outcome of guests here today, this is the biggest seeing-off of new trainers in over a decade! Let's give our young trainers a round of applause in acknowledgement of this monumental occasion."

This applause was even louder than the first, with lots of cheering amongst it all. Some of the trainers onstage bowed jokingly, while others waved.

The professor cleared his throat as the applause died down. "Now, to get things started, I remind you that this ceremony is different from others- with such a massive amount of new trainers, I've found myself lacking an able amount of starter Pokémon for all of them."

All of the children standing before him started murmuring among on another, some looking as if they'd become hysterical any moment.

Professor Oak waved off their concerns. "Settle down, settle down. Allow me to fully explain: We do not have a sufficient amount of Kanto starters. However, with the patronage of our neighboring regions- Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh- We have plenty to go around and also have available to you their regular choices of starter Pokémon as well."

The crowd- mainly the newest trainers- exploded into cheers. They seemed all the more anxious to get started with that notice.

"Now, without further ado, will the new trainers please line up orderly? You will receive your own Pokédex- which will serve as your personal id and record for encountered Pokémon- and, of course, your first official Pokémon.

The crowd of trainers then bustled and thinned out into a straight line, granted there was a bit of shoving. It calmed down all to quickly though, as they all were seemingly willing to cooperate to get what they wanted even sooner.

He would hear the professor up ahead in the distance, calling out the trainers name and town as they received their belongings.

"Travis, of Pewter city!"

"Marigold, from Lavender town!"

"Warren, from Saffron city!"

Edward found himself behind quite a few trainers, feeling the anxiety to the point of wanting to cut ahead. Despite that, he was the most quiet of the bunch.

After all, who was there to talk to?

"Edge!"

Even with all of the louder talking from the other trainers, he heard his new nickname. The trainer spun around to see the all-to-familiar girl standing right behind him with a warm smile. He offered the same smile back to the girl.

"Miss me?" she joked.

"Nah." He joked as well, to which she playfully punched him.

Suddenly, his expression shifted to one of concern as he remembered the earlier incident between the two. "Did they grill you too much?" He asked.

Tsunai tilted her head to the side, bewildered for a moment, before the question registered in the girl's head and she caught on.

"Oh…" She trailed off nervously, twiddling her fingers. "N-no…you know how those things work don't you?"

The boy in question shrugged with the purest innocence and uncertainty to the question.

That seemed to ease her up- his innocence to the subject. Just as quickly, she no longer seemed nervous. She couldn't help giggle before she tried to explain.

"Just a mistaken crush is all." She laughed it off.

Now it was Edward's turn to feel nervous- it was as if all her tension had dumped off on him. Why did the term 'crush' make him so nervous?

Oh right…

He remembered suddenly how a few girls had grown fond of him before…well, more like lovesick. The way they acted out their affections had scared the poor boy stiff. He'd been paranoid of any girl for a good year, making sure none got near him.

Even though that was long ago, certain things made him uneasy still.

"Had we kept fighting like from the start, we probably would have dodged a bullet there," She went on, oblivious to his inattentive mind. "Not sure how easy it'll be to fix."

When he didn't respond in any way, the girl waved a hand in front of his face. "Edje? What's the matter?"

For a moment, he caught a whiff of the girl's scent- her waving her hand around near his face like that. It all happened in an instant; his sense of smell worked on its own and he was inevitably left with an unwanted opinion on it.

She smelled…nice…_really_ nice.

And that scared him.

"Earth to Edge!" she went on.

He jolted up even straighter than he'd been standing before, his face feeling a lot hotter than the weather would ever cause. He looked for a cover up for his actions, and noticed the gap in the line. He hastily filled it with rushed pace, and the other trainers followed suit.

Tsunai kept behind him. "Are you ok?" She asked the back of his head.

"N-nothing." The lost trainer replied too quickly. Then he realized that wasn't even a valid answer. "I mean, yea I'm fine. You were just distracting me, and I realized that I'm holding the line up, so cut it out."

"Cut what out?" The girl asked puzzled as they continued forward. "You asked me a question, and I was answering. How is that distracting?"

"I…I just...I-I don't know." He lied sternly, trying to end it. "I just need space okay!? Go and smell pretty somewhere else will you?"

He kept a glare straight ahead, not looking back at the girl, hoping to end it there.

Until he realized what he just said.

Surprisingly Tsunai found the strength to turn him around, and his glare fell off of his face. He started to look nervous, in fact.

"Hey!" The girl said angrily, offended at his sudden hostility. "I didn't even…w-wait…what did you say?"

The boy only shook his head, having no words to offer that would actually come out.

"D-did you just…say I smelled pretty?" She said the last part weakly. He just stood there quietly, wishing he were somewhere else.

"Do…do I really?" She asked.

Edward hesitantly nodded despite his face being as red as hers. There was no point trying to lie now.

"Move it already!"

Suddenly, Tsunai flew forward; stumbling into him with a force he knew wasn't intended. While he came to the conclusion she was shoved, the girl reacted quickly by pushing her hands on his chest, stopping herself from smashing into him painfully. At the same time, he grabbed her to keep her distanced. Despite the effort, there was hardly any space between their faces. The two stayed frozen like that on the spot due to shock and confusion. Their expressions of confusion mirrored one another as they stood there.

"Tsunai!"

The two separated as if they'd been shocked by Zapdos itself. Behind Tsunai were her friends, standing there with arms crossed and the exact same glare. Tsunai spun around to see them, finally. When she did, she ran behind Edward, putting him between her and them.

"This isn't what it looks like!" The two defended in unison, but didn't make the girls ease up in the least.

"Oh really?" Sheri said sarcastically. "Because it seems you two can't keep separated, let alone stop making out to keep the line going."

The two accused went pale, Edward being the first to recover. "_That_ wasn't what it looked like either! Wait…what does 'making out' mean?"

"Oh Please." Namiko scoffed at him. "Like we're gonna believe _you."_

"What's that supposed to mean?" The boy asked offended,

"We can't even believe Tsunai over there! She said she had no interest in you, and yet here we find her clinging to you. As if we could have missed that."

Finally, Tsunai came from behind him. "Come on...can't we just talk?" she tried.

"Sure, why not?" Sheri said reluctantly, seeing how upset she was. "But can't it wait for us to get our Pokémon?" She hinted.

With that, Tsunai slowly walked to join the group. She stood with them, her long bangs covering her eyes.

Edward grew annoyed at this, but had yet to show it. Something about the way she was repeatedly made to leave because of them was rubbing him the wrong way.

He turned his attention to the line, realizing he was finally up. His feet ran him up the stairs up to the row of a dozen Pokémon. Not even pondering a choice long before he made it. Finally he walked up to Professor Oak.

"Edward Jonestu, of Vermillion city!" he announced. "I understand it that you're the only one of your hometown this time around."

"That's right." The boy replied simply.

"If you don't mind my asking, your age is recorded as 10 years old, but also states as official as of to weeks ago. Any reason you didn't leave with the last group?"

He shook his head in reply. "Not like I'll miss any of 'em," he uttered lowly, completely avoiding the question.

"I see. Well then, best of luck to you."

They shook hands before Edward took his pokedex and stepped down. He waited there against the stage, however, as he had something else to wait for.

"Tsunai Tomogaia, of Cinnibar island!" He heard the professor announce. A moment later, she sped down the stairs with her things in hand, the announcement of her friends names following after.

Just as she was about to run by, she caught sight of him and stopped.

"You don't have to wait on me you know." She clarified. "I'm fine."

"Actually, you're not who I'm waiting for." He replied. She gave him a look of questioning as Sheri ran down as well.

"Tsunai wha- you again?" She stated spitefully with a groan. "Now what do you want?"

The young trainer simply raised one finger, signaling her to wait. He did that every time until all of them were there. Finally, he stood up.

"I challenge you to a battle." He stated, pointing at the group of girls beside Tsunai. They just stared at him dumbfounded.

"Um…which one of us, exactly?" Sheri questioned, to which he shook his head.

"No- not one of you," He corrected. "all _four_ of you."

All of them looked at him in disbelief, including Tsunai. They were mostly questioning the boy's sanity.

The girls exchanged a look among one another, suddenly looking bold, before turning back to him.

"You've got to be kidding."

.

.


	5. Chance of four to One

**Chapter 4**

"**Chance of four to one!"**

* * *

**.**

**.**

He didn't know what had possessed him to do what he did, looking back on it now.

He challenged four girls to a battle against him at once. They'd only had their Pokemon for five minutes and he already made a stupid decision. To make it worse, he put the pressure on by saying one hour, which means he had to get his basic skills down in 60 minutes. The hour was up now, and soon he would either pull off the greatest thing he'd ever do in his 10-year-old life, or lose in the worst first battle ever...and to girls at that.

Come to think of it, he didn't quite know why they'd _accepted _his challenge either.

The trainer's head was throbbing, trying to keep in mind everything that he needed to think about in and out of battle. Everything stopped being as easy after knowing how to send out Pokemon and returning them to its ball. Everything else relied solely on judgement, skill, and other things he had yet to develop. The headache wasn't exactly helping his attempt to think positive, as he couldn't quite think.

All of the other trainers had finally obtained their respective Pokémon and were seated once again, chattering and whispering amongst one another. On the field next to them, Edward stood on his personal side, Tsunai's four friends situated on the opposite end.

Tsunai stood midway, torn on a decision of where to be.

The professor stood at the podium once again, rubbing the back of his head rather sheepishly as he tried to find the right words for what was about to be announced. "Um…ladies, gentlemen, and trainers of both- It seems we have an unscheduled event for you today." He announced with uncertainty. "It um, appears, that a trainer has requested a battle with four others- and by what he has told me, he wants to go at them all at once."

The crowd exchanged looks of puzzlement and humor, muttering and laughing to each other, as some looked in Edward's direction and pointed during conversation.

"Now-now, settle down everyone." He sighed, "I understand that this seems out of terms, but I'm willing to level with these trainers. After all, why deny them their first wish as new trainers? It seems a simple enough request, albeit one of the more strange ones. He seems to understand that it will be four against one, and his opponents have already accepted his challenge."

The professor sighed, looking over at the lone boy trainer.

"Boy, the new trainers these days…what could have drove him to have such a battle?" He wondered aloud.

"_Wait…what do you want to battle us for?" Sheri questioned._

_Edward crossed his arms at them boldly. "Because- interested in Tsunai or not- I feel you get on her too much about things. You must do that a lot, even without me here to use as an excuse."_

"_It's a pact." Namiko explained. "We do that for one another- stop each other from making bad choices. Like, this one time, Tsunai totally saved Hana from getting a really bad hairstyle."_

"_Oh right." Tsunai remembered. "She almost got the 'Wigglytuff' curl…"_

"_She helped me to dodge a bullet with that one. We're basically doing the same thing."_

"_Wait a minute…" Edge threw his fists down. "So you think I'm a bad choice? Is that what this is about?" he demanded, to which the four friends nodded their heads._

"_Nothing personal, but Tsunai-chan really doesn't need anyone tying her down and throwing her off task. After all, we're trainers on a fresh start; none of us need distractions from that."_

"_Come on, girls," Tsunai laughed. "He isn't that distracting."_

"_But you admit he's distracting. I can see it in the way you look at him. I don't know why or for what, but he seems to have you hook-line-and-sinker." Namiko smirked, to which Tsunai blushed a bit. "He's not all that. What do you see in him?"_

"_You know what?" Edward interrupted, raising his tone defensively. "You've been bugging me the most! We need to have this battle now. I'm soooo ready to kick your butt." He pointed._

"_Like you even could!" She huffed, getting in his face._

"_Calm down already." Sheri ordered. "So…what do we get when we win?"_

_Edward looked at them blankly. He put a fist to his chin, thinking for a moment before finally answer._

"_I'll back off and leave her alone for ever and ever: what you girls seem to want." He sighed. Tsunai looked as if she were going to object, but backed down, looking worried._

"_But…if I win," He started. "I can do whatever I want; She can do whatever she wants; we can do whatever we want- and none of you can argue it."_

_The girls stood there, looking as if they were afraid to even agree, before regaining their smug composure._

"_Fine." Hari muttered. "Not like it'll ever happen…"_

Edward observed the girls at the other end, each holding their poké ball in hand, saying something inaudible as their eyes were glued to them. It reminded him of the Pokémon he'd gotten. He pulled the poké ball out of his pocket and examined it, as if he could see the Pokémon inside.

He couldn't help but wonder if he'd made the right choice with this Pokémon. It was his first choice, but was it the best to win this? He didnt have any idea what they'd chosen either, and odds were already against him. What had he been thinking?

He almost began to regret his action in full and withdraw when the professor spoke once more.

"So without further ado, the battle will now go underway. I shall be the referee. The battle shall be over when either side has no Pokémon left to battle. Are both sides ready." He waited. The children of both sides nodded.

"Ready and…begin!"

Both sides threw their poké balls with all that they could muster, sending them toward the sky. At the peak of the toss they all burst open with light, the beam casting down to the ground with a materializing form.

On his opponents' side, he first noticed a green, stubby legged Pokémon on all fours, its mouth looked even stronger, the upper jaw coming down with a hook. A splitting branch of two small leaves dawned the top of its head, telling him well that it was a grass type.

It wasn't the only one however, as there was the one beside it. Its stature was almost similar, bar the lack of the sharp jawline and lighter coloring of green. Also, the larger leaf dawning its head was much more elegant and bigger in size.

Then the third appeared. This one seemed to be lower to the ground with its stance. The Pokémon's head was narrowly shaped, much like its eyes. The back of it's yellow body looked smooth with a shade of dark blue before it ignited it spikes of pure flame.

The second fiery partner and last of the four finally materialized. It seemed the tallest of all of them, its front limbs looking somewhat lanky as it leaned forward with them to the ground; Its hind legs seemed a little shorter. Nonetheless, it was the only one of them all with extended fingers and toes- almost humanlike. The red fur of its head stuck up straight, like a cowlick in the shape of flames. Its back end lit up with a fire- much like he'd seen with the end of a Charmander's tail. In fact, it was colored similar to Charmander as well. He snickered for a moment, showing an ounce of immaturity before going right back to serious.

Two fire types; two grass types. He had both an advantage and disadvantage, he realized, as he looked at his own Pokémon.

The indigenous starter of Kanto popped out from its brown-topped shell, revealing the small round head along with its arms, legs, and swirled tail, which were all of a cyan blue color.

The Pokémon stood their ground, ready and waiting for their trainers command. Edward's new Squirtle looked at the four Pokémon across the way with wide red eyes, turning to him with a look of questioning. It pointed to itself, then to its opponents.

"Yeah…sorry about that, Kasukedo." Edge rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. He knew all to well what the Pokémon had meant by that. "But you don't have to worry- even though its four to one, its pretty even odds." He explained to the small turtle Pokémon with a shrug.

It nodded, albeit hesitantly, taking its trainers word for the moment.

Edward took a moment to analyze his battling partner with his Pokédex, getting a reading of his Pokémon:

"Species: Squirtle. Nickname: Kasukedo. Moves are: Tail whip, bubble, withdraw and Tackle." The female voice chimed. The boy nodded in understanding before closing the appliance once again, sliding it into his pocket.

Professor Oak continued once again after the children had released their Pokémon. " It seems today that Sheri's Chimchar, Hana's Chikorita, Namiko's Turtwig and Hari's Cyndaquil will go against Edward's Squirtle. I'm sure everyone is interested in how such an odd battle is to turn out. So, without further ado, let the battle begin1"

Something during that moment made Edward lose his words, though at the same time he realized that the girls did _not _have that issue. The next things he knew their Pokémon were in motion, rushing his only Pokémon.

"Use scratch, Tenka."

"Koeda, give it a tackle!"

Both Sheri and Namiko sent their Pokémon into attack simultaneously, trying to overwhelm the single Squirtle. Edward took notice of the gang up and regained his focus.

"Kasukedo, Into your shell. Now!"

The Pokémon nodded before his head disappeared into its shell, leaving the Chimchar's nails to drag across the chest of shell as it sped by. Turtwig came in as Squirtle fell onto all fours; its head still resided within its shell.

"Tackle!"

Right as the opponent Pokémon was about to make contact, Edward's Pokémon withdrew its head from the shell and bashed into the charging Koeda in one fast motion. Namiko clenched a fist at him as her Pokémon was sent skidding back.

Suddenly Hari's Cyndaquil showed up from behind the flying Turtwig ready for its own attack. Its attack was clearly proven more fortunate than its partners' as it collided with the opponent's skull. Its kept going with the momentum and landed on the ground to retreat, leaving its victim flat on its back and helpless.

Edge felt helpless too as he couldn't do anything but beg the Pokémon to flip itself over. "Squirtle! Get up! Come on!"

The Pokémon writhed and thrashed, only achieving in rocking back and forth on its shell. It only got worse as Hana's Chikorita took advantage of the poor Squirtle's helplessness, pinning it down with its front two legs.

"Meiden, use growl!"

The girls voice sounded like she couldn't harm a Magikarp, and the sound that followed after as Meiden followed orders wasn't any more menacing. As the boy thought about it though, that was probably just what they were going for.

"Kasukedo, keep your guard up!"

The victimized Pokémon looked at his trainer with uncertainity to the meaning of those words. Meiden continued the endearing growl- obviously fooling its opponent into thinking it wasn't as much a threat.

"Come on, Focus! Use tackle!"

Despite being on its back, Squirtle managed to totter backwards before rocking forward in order to bring its attack just enough to bash its attackers face with a good amount of force. Meiden staggered back, giving Kasukedo the space he needed.

"Lift yourself with a bubble attack!"

The toppled Pokémon released foam of bubbles that soon formed into a single one around it, lifting the lightweight water type into the air slowly. Nonetheless, the opponents were still pursuing it.

Sheri smirked as Tenka took the preemptive against the Squirtle, making an effortless leap onto the delicatle bubble keeping the water Pokémon afloat. "Use taunt!" She shouted after it.

The chimchar chattered at the on-edge squirtle from its side of the barrier.

_(What's the matter, wimp? Don't know what offense is? Why bother coming out of your ball only to stay in your shell? Weakling…)_

Kasukedo had obviously heard enough from it at that point, and was riled up with an rage that was evident in its eyes. This seemed to give the redheaded girl much content as she gave the next order.

"Scratch!"

With that, the same taunt inducing Pokémon lifted its grip from the unstable carrier and brought both down with claws extended. The Squirtle was caught entirely off guard as the opponent's strategy proved to work more than necessary. The claws impacted with its head and forcefully sent the victim plummeting as the little fire chimp flipped with the force.

Edje fought the knot growing in his stomach as he focused on his Pokémon's state. "Kasukedo, quick! Withdraw before you hit the ground!"

He noticed something was wrong as his Pokémon crashed down, obviously being hurt more because of what he _hadn't_ done. His Pokémon struggled to get up, not getting much slack as the opponents took notice of his grounding. "Okay, they're closing in. Use tail whip and go into a tackle." He tried.

His Pokémon seemed to only get the later half of it. Kasukedo rushed towards them without any sign of relent or forethought.

The young boys eyes went wide in shock as his Pokémon practically ran into danger. "No! Don't just rush in like that!"

His battle partner showed no sign of acknowledging his warning as it rushed forward. His opponents on the other hand- took advantage of the lone squirtle's recklessness and charged at him in a spread formation.

Sheri took charge of the situation, taking the first move and calling for Leer. Her Chimchar gave Kasukedo one of the most hostility-filled glares as it closed the distance, to which his expression weakened and took the headlong attitude with it. The water-type put on the brakes and stopped, as if it were reconsidering its actions.

Edge clenched his fists tightly as he had nothing to counter in mind. '_He's being overwhelmed. First taunt, now leer?'_

Netsu darted to its far right, out of Kasukedo's line of sight, as it was all too focused on Tenka at the moment. Hari took advantage of the situation and ordered a smokescreen. It practically swallowed its target, stinging its eyes at little and blocking view from everything outside.

"You should not have faced all of us at once!" Namiko stated arrogantly at the distraught trainer before quickly turning her attention back to her Pokémon. "Use razor leaf!"

"Meiden, poison powder!" Hana joined in.

Koeda threw its head forward full force and sent the leaves full speed into the cloud, proving to hit the mark as Kasukedo was sent flying towards Meiden. She spun the giant leaf rapidly and sent a purple cloud into the air for Edward's Pokémon to collide with.

"Bubble! Use bubble NOW!"

The airborne squirtle fought through the pain to focus the attack forward. The water bubbles drifted forward only slightly faster than squirtle was and popped as the reached the toxic power. It dissipated into a ring, too close of a call as Kasukedo flew right through after. Not long after it crashed through the ground, bouncing once before skidding a distance of the battlefield. Time seemed to slow down to his trainer.

The applause was now evident to Edward for the first time as he wasn't so into his thoughts. The other trainers were enjoying this, but he most certainly wasn't. He looked over to Tsunai, who was gazing at Kasukedo with a look of something he wasn't so certain of. He took a look at the people spectating. Some of the shared the same look; others were cheering for the winning side. Others? Well…they were giving him a look with a message that seemed too evident to him.

Battling for real was absolutely nothing like a game.

.

.


	6. A Tie Breaker of Two Kinds

**Chapter 5**

"**A Tie Breaker of Two Kinds"**

* * *

**.**

**.**

Edward fought back the reaction he wanted to have so badly and put his attention toward his Squirtle, who'd yet to recover. "Kasukedo…come on. Get up. Please?"

The Pokémon attempted to pull itself up in response, but fell back down to the ground.

"You have to get up. You gotta try…just a little harder. You can do that…right?"

Nothing.

"I don't expect you to win no matter what, but I know this isn't your best. Just give a little more, ok?"

The world around seemed to go silent as if it were listening for the answer as well. The referee waited for a moment before raising its hand to Edward's side of the field. "Edward's Squirtle is una-"

"Squirtle!"

The boy's hopes skyrocketed (as well as his heart rate) as his Pokémon made its voice heard. Slowly but surely enough, the water turtle got up, standing on two feet. A blue energy shone around it, growing bright before dimming away.

"What was…is that torrent?" The astonished trainer spoke, recalling the information he made sure to know about his partner. "Well…only one way to find out. Kasukedo, try a bubble attack."

A much more immediate response was given, as a plethora of bubbles were fired to the sky with a newfound speed. The opponents looked confused for a moment as they strayed about, regrouped, and dropped down in a way they weren't ready to avoid. They grouped around Hari's Cyndaquil and exploded one by one until the last few bursted altogether. Netsu flew back and fell to the ground competely dazed, leaving the teammates shocked along with their trainers.

"Uh…" The referee stammered for a moment, unable to initially believe it. "Hari's Pokémon Cyndaquil is unable to continue, so she has been eliminated from the battle."

"What!?" Hari screeched. "No way! In one hit!?"

"That's torrent all right. No way that would have knocked someone out before." Edward said satisfied. Even with that satisfaction, his heart still went a mile a minute in anxiety. "Can you keep this up, Kasukedo?"

His Pokémon turned to him with a nod, looking happy for the first time since the battle started. This was very much a relief to his trainer, as the boy was beginning to believe his guidance would grant only his Pokémon's hate.

"Awesome! Then lets go for a withdrawn tackle attack!"

Squirtle acted on his trainer's words even more enthusiastically this time, getting a good running start before jumping into its shell midair as it launched toward the remaining three. Tenka and Koeda split up to separate sides as the dumbstruck Meiden took a shell to the face. To make the situation worse, Kasukedo pushed off with force as its head popped out of the shell once again, knocking her away in a tumble.

"Tenka, ember! Don't let use lose this way!"

"Koeda, come on! Just one razor leaf can end this!"

Edward jumped at the sudden order of attacks. "Use tail whip on Chikorita! Don't pay them any mind."

Squirtle put all the speed it could on its four legs and jumped on Chikorita's head, bringing it down with the extra weight. The Pokémon wagged its tail in its opponents face as it jumped off to avoid what it knew was coming.

Meiden wasn't as prepared…

A flurry of leaves pelted the poor grass Pokémon just as it got back to its feet, and the scarlet embers only made it worse as they burst into flames along with the unintended target. The weak flames didn't take long to go out, but by the time they did, Meiden was down for the count.

The referee raised his hand up to the girls' side once again. "Chikorita is unable to battle. Therefore, her trainer Hana is eliminated."

Despite this, Hana showed no anger towards Edward, as he would have expected. Her glare was directed towards her two other friends.

"Could you two be more terrible? Now look what you did!" She exploded at them before going to retrieve her slightly charred Pokémon. "You poor thing. I feel as betrayed as you…" her voice wavered.

"Give it a rest! It was an accident you know!" Namiko spitefully pointed out to the girl, pointing at the boy on the end of the field. "Blame him! He's been nothing but trouble!"

"No I haven't." Edward clarified, only being forced to shout due to the distance. Namiko replied with a scoff and a nose to the air.

"You're not changing anyone's mind. It's ok though- once we' knock out that little blue bully you'll have to get away from us anyway!"

Edward nodded his head silently. "….Use bubble! And don't stop until I tell you to." He said finally, apparently being done with the conversation.

It took a moment for Kasukedo to realize it before doing as told. He shot out as many bubbles as he could in one breath, sending them to the sky so they could float down again rather quickly

"No fair! You cheater!" The blonde girl protested. "Koeda, use razor leaf!"

Her Turtwig didn't waste time knocking the bubbles away with the sharp leaves, practically destroying half of them. Their catalyst wasn't quite done yet though. The Water Pokémon sent another wave in, this time headed straight at them to add to the one from above.

Sheri took action as her partner had her hands full. "Tenka, scratch!"

The girl's Chimchar fearlessly rushed in on her trainer's word at the second wave and slashed through a group of bubbles in the center of the second wave. As the mist drizzled down it was caught off guard as Edward's Squirtle closed in.

"Tackle!"

"NO!"

As Edje shouted the command, Kasukedo's attack was intercepted. Koeda shoved Tenka out of the way before giving a tackle of its own.

"Not this time." Namiko smirked, before seeing Edward smirk as well.

Despite Koeda taking the tackle attack, Tenka was still in the net of bubbles closing in. They busted away with the Pokémon under them, leaving a pool of mud and yet another knocked out opponent in its wake.

"Sheri's Chimchar," The referee stated. "Is unable to battle. This match is down to Edward's Squirtle and Namiko's Turtwig."

Sheri stayed quiet as she returned the dazed Pokémon to its ball. She cast a glance in Namiko's direction before going to join the other girls.

The crowd of spectators, who had initially been stunned at the battle's turning out, were beginning to roar with cheers and applause. Some were cheering as Edward was seemingly rising up, while others still had faith that the group of girls had this win ready to wrap up.

Professor Oak had been observing in silence from the crowd as the battle had raged on. "I've seen a lot of battles in my day, but this child…could he really be this talented to begin with? Or is it simply a case of beginner's luck?" He contemplated aloud. Then his attention turned to Edward's Pokémon. "Still, his Pokémon has gained so much experience so early…I wonder if…"

The young boy was so riled up at this point he could barely contained himself. This battle had at first seemed so impossible and nothing but a rash act, but now he was so close to-

The headlock between the two remaining Pokémon was suddenly broken as Kasukedo shoved Koeda off with a newfound strength. As he gave a battle cry, the water-type's body glowed a radiant white.

"Uh, Squirtle?" Edje asked aloud. "What's going on?"

"No…nononononono! Why? That's not fair!" Namiko growled, stomped her foot repeatedly. The rest of her friends looked awestruck.

The glow ended after a couple of moments and His Pokémon had taken on a new appearance.

"Huh…Wartortle…" Edward said plainly, still feeling really stunned and in disbelief. He pulled out his Pokédex and pointed it at his newly evolved starter-, as did a lot of the children.

"_Wartortle: The turtle Pokémon and evolved form of Squirtle. It is said to live 10,000 years. Its tail is popular as a symbol of longevity"_

The Professor shook his head at the new form of the boy's Pokémon in disapproval. "It is too soon for that to go well…"

During the midst of the sudden surprise, Namiko grew impatient and sent her Turtwig in motion again with a tackle attack.

"Hey! You can't do that!" Edward protested, the girl grinned slyly at him.

"Oh yeah? Says who?"

"Counter it Kasukedo! Use tackle too!"

Nobody really expected what was coming next.

Kasukedo paid no heed to its trainer's words; it simply stood its ground. The attack hit dead-on, but its target showed nothing more than a slight budge before throwing the smaller grass Pokémon back with a thrust of its body. Without any warning, a powerful jet of water was fired at the opponent while it was knocked on its back, completely engulfing it for moments on end. When the water type ceased fire, the battlefield was practically swamped, the opponent found knocked out in the center of the muddy ground.

"Kasukedo! That was harsh! Good in this case, I guess…but way too much!"

The referee took a moment to check if the mud covered Pokémon was actually down for the count before making his decision. "Namiko's Turtwig is unable to battle, therefore the winner is Edward of Vermillion and his Squir- I mean, Wartortle!"

"Um…ok. Great job Kasu."

He kneeled down to pet his Pokémon on the head, but it turned away from him defiantly.

Edge took a step back, sensing a bit of hostility. _Huh?_

He didn't notice Tsunai run up to him as his concern was focused on his battle partner. "Edge, that was pretty good, but you might wanna avoid going overboard in the future."

It was obvious after a moment that he wasn't paying attention.

"Hey!" her shouting managed to snap him out of it. "It wouldn't kill you to be happy. I mean…you won! Somehow. What's the matter?"

The child looked over to the newly evolved Wartortle, who was keeping to itself. "Well…"

Suddenly Professor Oak approached the two, a rather solemn expression worn on his face.

"Edward, wasn't it?" He tried. "That was quite the unique battle. It was astonishing to watch something as rare as a four on one battle."

Edward opened his mouth to speak, but he wasn't through talking.

"However, I can't help but realize the outcome. I would like to have a moment with you if you don't mind to discuss a few things."

Reluctantly, the young trainer couldn't do much more than oblige and leave his only acquaintance behind. He could only be sure that he wasn't going to like what he would be told.

.

.

* * *

**A/N:Thanks to anyone who has had a good though on this story so far. I know it may not exactly be great, but its good to be getting views either way. Any reviews of any kind are welcome: questions, suggestions on improvement, anything. If anyone is wondering, the next chapter will be up soon after a bit more revising.**


	7. Bittersweet

**Chapter 6**

"**Bittersweet"**

* * *

**.**

**.**

Professor Oak made sure they were a fair distance away, lest the new and curious trainers of all over eavesdrop on their conversation. Hands tucked inside in his white lab coat, he walked leisurely as if nothing were wrong in the world. Edward gratefully took notice of what he was doing, even though he had yet to find out himself.

"So…I can only imagine you've noticed a change in your Wartortle's attitude." Professor Oak started finally just as Edward had imagined he would.

"Yea!" He jumped too eagerly in reply. "Do you have any idea what's going on? I thought winning would make him happy, but..." he trailed off.

"Based on its sudden shift in behavior after evolving, I'm afraid it's already out of your jurisdiction of training. It may not listen to you until you can prove yourself."

His heart faltered at the news that was so bluntly put to him by the experienced Professsor. He looked over to where Kasukedo had been before. Surely enough, there he still stood, arms crossed and looking as if not even an oncoming Volt tackle would make him move. It was much worse than he though, and he struggled fro the right words to form a question. "B-but…for how long?"

"One can't be sure." The elder replied with uncertainty, informing him that his Pokémon may simply get it together himself, or wait until its given a reason to believe it should listen after all.

The boy found himself tugging on the sleeves of his green jacket in discomfort to the situation "So what do I do?"

"That's the true dilemma," Oak pointed out. "Had this happened further into your journey, you would have had more Pokémon to work with. Wartortle would've seen plenty an example of your skill through your relationship with them. But," He sighed. "Wartortle is your only Pokémon right now, and a non-complying one to boot. That being said, if you use it for any more battles, you'll only be pushing it further away from you- authority-wise. My suggestion would be to catch another Pokémon. But… "

Edward groaned at what was beginning to sound very hopeless. "There's more?"

"There's the issue of the first gym's type: Brock of Pewter city will be all the more of a challenge if you bring normal-type Pokémon; that's all you'll find on route one- bar Pidgey, a terrible choice of matchups. The Viridian forest is also an option although lackluster for any advantageous Pokémon you're likely to encounter. Its mostly home to bug-types and…well there are Pikachu there rarely…"

"But?" Edward guessed to which the Professor continued the explanation.

"Electric-types wouldn't help with Brocks ground-types at all. They aren't even capable of doing damage."

The last bit of news was something completely new to him.

"And putting into consideration that you need to weaken a Pokémon with your own, and your own Pokémon usually failing to comply…"

"Are you saying I'm stuck?"

"Not necessarily, my boy" The renowned professor denied. "However all I can suggest is that you don't get stuck."

"You've got to be kidding." The trainer shook his head in disbelief. "Now what am I gonna do?"

The man seemed at a loss for words. "I'm astounded to say that you just may have the worst circumstances of any beginner I've ever had privilege to meet."

"Gee, thanks a lot."

"If I may, I wanted to ask just what was the circumstance that began this whole battle? What possessed you to take on four trainers?"

Thinking about what the answer to that was, he turned his attention to the battlefield once again. Tsunai was down by his Pokémon, moving a stand of hair aside as she tried to speak to him. From here, it seemed to be of no avail.

"Her." He pointed. "It was mostly for her."

"Ah" Professor Oak rubbed his chin. "Your friend?"

"Not exactly."

"I see. Love does make us do some crazy things doesn't it? I suppose a small crush could do similar."

"Well see the thing is…" Edward obliviously began to explain before catching on. "Whoa, What?!"

"If that's the reason than your brashness is more than explained." The older man chuckled good-heartedly, patting the boy on the back. "I wish you the best, after all of this."

"Why does no one get it?" The boy cried.

*o*o*o*o*

Edward returned to the area a few minutes later to find it more deserted than before. The chairs had been abandoned as new trainers had practically emptied out from the area. He noticed Tsunai hadn't left just yet. Neither had her friends, much to his dismay. It did, however, do him a bit of good in spirit to see Namiko making such an effort to clean the mud from her Turtwig.

"So?" Tsunai inquired as Edward walked past her and seated himself in on of the fold out chairs. He gave her the slightest glance before turning away.

"So what…?" he replied sullenly.

The girl kneeled to his level even as his gaze was fixed toward the ground. "What did the professor say to you? And what took so long? I don't know how many trainers came up to me wanting to tell you stuff! Well, good and bad. If it makes you feel any better, It was mostly good stuff!" She ended on a good note.

He offered no response to her but silence. What was he supposed to say? How he'd raised his Pokémon so far that he couldn't use it anymore? Not a chance. He couldn't even enjoy the fact that he'd been praised.

"It was probably something along the lines of 'You shouldn't resort to things like luck to beat a bunch of girls in a battle and rain on their parade.'" Namiko said suggestively.

Tsunai opened her mouth to talk, but then he finally chose to speak up.

"He was just suggesting that maybe next time, I don't beat my opponents so relentlessly." The boy fibbed. He knew just how smug he sounded, but he almost believed that the subject would be dropped. Namiko shared the same expression as her Pokémon, glaring at the subjugator with frustration. "Look you-"

"That's enough Namiko," Sheri said finally, although the tone of her voice hinted she would have otherwise let her go on. "He won. Just drop it."

"But..!"

"I know. I didn't think he'd win either. I really, really…REALLY didn't. But he did. He didn't cheat; He didn't even have a better Pokémon, but he won."

"He got lucky…" Namiko said under her breath. "_Wartortle_ got lucky." she corrected herself.

Hana sat at a distance beside her, stroking the sleeping Cyndaquil's back as it rested. "What are you going on about? If I remember right, you lost last. I lost first! Try being me, and then complain." She said with a bitter tone

She gave a look in his direction and he met it with an expression of surprise.

"So what now?"

Getting over the shock, he already knew the answer to that.

"I'm out of here. Bye."

As Edward stood to his feet and put distance between himself and the girls one of the finally spoke up.

"H-hey!"

He turned around to see the red headed leader of the group in his face. "What do you want?"

"Aren't you taking Tsunai with you?"

"Um…no. Why'd you think that?"

The conversation fell silent and tension grew fast enough for the young trainer to feel. He already knew he'd done something wrong.

"WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM!?" The four girls exploded at him. Edward found himself backing to what he felt was a safe distance away.

"W-what are you talking about?"

"We did _not _get out butts kicked and lose our _first_ battle so you could change your mind in the end." Hari clarified, making it clear to him that she _was_ in fact capable of sounding angry, contrary to her first impression.

Hana took her chance to join in. "Yeah! What was the point if you didn't want her to go with you?"

Edward only offered them a look of confused innocence. "I never even said anything like that! Were you not listening at all when I made the bet?"

"No, not really." Sheri admitted, making the trainer bring a palm to his face. "Because- as I said before- I really, really didn't think you'd come anywhere close to beating us all."

Dismissing the condescending remark, he made an attempt to clear up exactly what he said.

"I only did this because you guys-"

"Girls." Namiko corrected.

"Yeah, yeah whatever," He dismissed. "Seemed to keep bossing Tsunai around. Since you lost you can't butt in to anything anymore. I never said she comes with me though- that's up to her."

The four girls seemed to be less than satisfied with the explanation, but stayed silent. Even without any words being thrown his way, he could feel the tension.

"Besides, there's only one way to go from here." He added, making them nearly fall over. He didn't even bother to wait as he headed down the dirt road to Vermillion.

The four girls practically burned through the back of his head with their glares before getting in motion themselves, mumbling amongst each other.

The cyan haired girl- seemingly forgotten about at the moment- tailed after them until Sheri stopped for her.

"You know, Tsunai," The girl put her hands to her hips, watching as Edward walked off on his own. "At first I thought that boy was up to something with you, so he seemed like a problem. But now, seeing how he couldn't care less? There's the possibility I was wrong."

Tsunai gave a weak smile, being confused as she was. Did it really not matter after going through all of that?

*o*o*o*o*

Edward found a small restaurant near the outskirts of pallet. He remembered what his mother had told him about reaching pallet, and realized he was hours late on the promise. Walking in to the restaurant, it was much different than home. Everything in it looked of hand mad. Back in Vermillion, restaurants seemed a little higher class, being a big vacation spot. But this was nice to him, being in such a relaxed place.

The smell of food wafting through his nose almost made him want to believe it was homemade. Then, as if on queue, his stomach growled.

"Sooner I get this over with, the sooner I can eat."

Walking over to the phone, he realized it wasn't even video. Muttering to himself he slowly dialed the number as it came to mind. After ringing for the longest time, he got an answer.

"Hello this is a restricted number. Please state your business."

"Family priority. Number six-five-three-nine-three-two. Personal call." The boy spoke in one tone, quite tired of the procedure by now.

"…One moment."

A moment turned into a minute before a voice was on the line again.

"Dynn here." A deep-voice filled his ear.

"Hey Dad." The mood returned to the trainers voice as he spoke. "Mom wanted me to call you. I got to Pallet okay."

"Already? Wow, the bus must have gotten faster somehow."

"S.S Anne." He corrected his father, frowning as he neglected to realize how late the announcement was.

"Should've known." The grown man laughed from the phone. Edward resented then that he couldn't see that right now. "So…what Pokémon?"

"Squir…" The trainer's grip tightened on the phone. "I mean…Wartortle. His name is Kasukedo."

It was silent on the other end for a moment. "How can you have a Wartorlte by now? It's so soon…"

The boy swallowed the lump in his throat as he tried speaking again. "It's kind of a long-"

"Uh, sorry son. I've got to get back." His father's voice suddenly sound hurried. "But fill me in later. Good luck."

The line cut to a dial tone, but he just sat there holding it to his ear for a moment. The hand holding it trembled before slowly placing it back on its hook.

This was exactly why he'd 'forgotten' in the first place.

"I think I'll just get my food to go." He said dryly, getting up from the seat to go order.

.

.


	8. Fight & Flight

**Chapter 7**

"**Fight & Flight"**

* * *

**.**

**.**

Edward made sure to avoid the grass as he continued on, walking to the point his shoes made little to no noise on the dirt path. He realized he wouldn't be able to do anything say a Pokémon jumped out at him. Well, he could…but it would only make things worse. When he couldn't simply make his way around, he sprinted through the tall fields at a pace that made him more tired every time. After the third or fourth time, he was too tired to go on. Sitting down on a ridge nearby, The boy took out the only pokéball he had. The sunlight bounced off of the polished surface as he gazed at it, wondering what he would do to fix the problem at hand. He felt like his father would have offered some great advice on the predicament, but this phone call didn't even surpass a minute. The explanation took five at the minimum. Then again, it didn't shock him in the slightest that he was just as busy as usual.

Suddenly the grass rustled behind him, and he scrambled to his feet holding the pokéball out in a defensive position. After a second he realized that would do any good in his predicament, stepping away from the noise slowly as he realized all he could do was run. Just as he planned to turn tail and run, he caught a glimpse of a familiar color- one that couldn't belong to any indigenous Pokémon.

"Tsunai?" he guessed, and right on queue the girl appeared from the grass. The girl's sudden and unannounced appearance nearly gave him a heart attack, making him sound slightly irate. "What are you sneaking around for?"

She cocked her head at him. "Sneaking? There's only one way. Remember?"

"Right..."

He hid his pokéball away and plopped back down with a relieved sigh. The girl took her own seat beside him.

"I didn't know grass could get so big…" She said in a random outburst. The young trainer couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculous comment.

"It grows all over the place! How could you not know?"

"Not on Cinnabar." She clarified, making him suddenly feel dumb. "At least not tall enough for Pokémon to hide. Not that I've seen, anyway."

"Oh…" was all he could say back. Maybe it wasn't so ridiculous.

"I think they're avoiding you."

"Huh?"

The wild Pokémon- I haven't run into any following you, but Sheri and the others are caught up in battles already. What'd you do?"

The dark-haired trainer was about to inquire just why she was following him, but decided not to. "I just…ran." He admitted timidly, following with a lie right after. "I don't really want to battle."

Tsunai nodded without looking at him. "Me neither. Well, not yet anyway. Still, Daddy warned me not to run through the grass unless I wanted Pokémon to swarm me. That's what you did, and nothing came!" She explained, making him feel faint at the possibility. "I know my dad's not a liar."

He had no explanation to offer her. He was just as clueless.

"Did you use repel?" She asked, getting in his face as she did so.

"Can't afford it this early."

"Have some item to keep them away?"

"Nope. I didn't know they _had_ items." He informed her.

"Well, you did something." Tsunai huffed in frustration, blowing strands of hair hanging in front of her face. Suddenly she looked like she remembered something important. "Oh yeah…your Pokémon evolved, didn't it?"

Edward sighed at the sore subject. "Yeah."

"That's got to be it!" She snapped her fingers. "I mean, uh, I've never heard anything like that from my parents, but that has to be the thing. Maybe wild Pokémon know when there's a strong Pokémon around, and…you know, not to mess with it."

"Hmm, maybe." He shrugged, not thinking of any better reason.

"Still though," The girl went on. "Its not like you have to wait up for out Pokémon to evolve. I'll bet, with that new Wartortle of yours, you'd have no problem beating wild Pokémon and getting even stronger! I mean, why not?"

Edward just chuckled at her enthusiasm. "Heh…I think Kasukedo is tough enough right now…"

This earned him a look from the cyan-haired girl.

"…You ready to tell me what happened now?"

He turned to her in surprise. Had she found out? The look on her face said she just might…

"I know something happened. You weren't happy that you won that crazy battle you put yourself through?"

Trying to make eye contact as he spoke, he only felt more pressured. "Well yea but-"

"But what? What's the problem?" Tsunai pried, only making him more upset.

"Because it was a mistake. To much of a challenge; too early."

The oblivious girl laughed a bit a how he seemed to contradict his earlier actions. "Well obviously not!"

"No! You don't get it." He countered, drooping his head dismally. "Kasu got too strong now and…and now it won't listen to me anymore."

"W-what?" The girl responded in disbelief. "Why though?"

"According to Oak, As far as Kasukedo sees me, I'm a trainer weaker than what he needs." The boy sulked in his words.

"Aw, Edge…" Tsunai sympathized the boy as he hung his head. But as she was trying to place a hand on his shoulder, he shoved it away gently.

"Don't do that, okay?" Edge said in the nicest tone he could manage in his crestfallen mood. He slowly got up and walked away.

"Didn't your mom ever teach you it's rude to walk away in the middle of a talk?" Tsunai tried him, running up to the boy's heels as he continued down the trail. His back stayed to her, not even bothering to turn around.

Edward gave her a quizzical look. "There's nothing else to talk about. Weren't we done?"

*o*o*o*o*

For the next hour or so, He though he'd shut her up about the ordeal. He only heard her walking behind him, and nothing more. Inwardly though, he felt she hadn't dropped it- like it was lingering in the air with the many smells of nature he was growing used to. "Ok," Tsunai had started once again, after another half hour of more awkward silence. "I'm sure you actually wanna talk about this."

"Nope." Edward said defiantly.

She huffed at his response, feeling more determined to get the introverted ten year old to speak up. She sped around to face him for the first time since they began walking, ready to get in his face about it.

Even as the child's head hung low, the exhaust-filled expression on his face was suddenly evident to her and was beaded in sweat. His shoulders rose and fell with each heavy breath. Even with all of this, he managed to notice she was staring."…What-do-you-want?"

Tsunai could only look at him in concern for quite some time. Then, her face turned stern. "…We're stopping."

"Wha…what?" Edward questioned, sounding more winded by the second. "N-no way! We're bare…barely through the first…"

He suddenly fell to his knees, supporting his weight with his hands against the dirt road. "Route…"

"We. Are. STOPPING." The girl demanded, refusing to budge an inch as she watched the boy fight fatigue. It was almost like breathing was too laborious of a job for the guy.

"Ugh…fine" He rasped. With that, he let himself crash to the ground to sit.

"Not right there, you! Move out of the path." She groaned. "Here. Lemme help you."

Not really knowing exactly how to help the exhausted fellow trainer, Tsunai simply grabbed his arm and attempted to pull up.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Edward managed a whimper even in exhaustion, standing on his own to relieve the pain the girls force was bringing. "You're not helping!"

He snapped his arm out of her grip, leaving the offended girl to glare at him. "Look, Mr. Snorlax-stamina- you can help yourself! I'm going to make camp."

With that, Tsunai stormed off into the woods area, out of his sight.

The exhausted boy was left mumbling to himself. "Fine."

He threw the bag forward from off of his shoulder, untying the string that fastened the sleeping bag to his backpack. Unrolling it in one swift motion, he wasted no time climbing into the bag and making himself comfortable. At least, he tried to…but the rocks, gravel and dirt his sleeping bag was residing on was not something he was used to.

At this point he wondered if he would even be able to sleep.

He turned to lie on his other side, and at that moment realized the sun hadn't even began to set. How could the day not be over? He'd felt more effort was put into today than any other time in his 10-year-old life, and they weren't even near Viridian yet. The realization made him abandon the desire to fall asleep at all. He found himself instead rising from the bag and getting up to do something else.

He just wasn't so sure of what.

*o*o*o*o*

In the distant wooded area nearby, the cyan-haired girl wandered through alone, picking up branches and chunks of bark she thought would suffice for firewood. It was the only thing she could think to do first, the mishap with the boy she accompanied and- at this moment- regretted following, having made her storm off. Now that she was out here, she figured she would be doing something. The forest would seem to move in places on its own and put the girl on alert. Then it would turn out to be something harmless like a stick hitting the ground or a tiny Pidgey, making her feel awkward.

"I don't even know how to make a fire." She admitted to no one in particular. "Darn that kid…this feels dumb now."

Just as she turned around to head back, she noticed the very person in mention just as he inattentively bumped into her.

She quickly shoved him away, expecting Sheri and the others show up and make yet another badly timed observation. "Can't you watch where you're walking?"

Edward shook his head distantly. "Oh. Didn't think you went this way too." He said simply.

"Yea. What of it?" Tsunai found herself asking defensively. Realizing she had to look down slightly to meet the shorter child's gaze, she found it hard to be so serious.

"I just…wanted to be alone is all." He spoke lowly. His focus went to his feet, suddenly feeling awkward. "What are you doing out here anyway?"

"Firewood." The girl jostled the bunch of branches she was carrying in her arms. The boy in front of her cocked his head to the side.

"So you're telling me you know how to make a fire?" He asked with genuine curiosity. Tsunai gave no answer but a short glare.

"Just carry some of this, will you?"

She dumped some of load and left the unprepared trainer to fumble forward as he got a grip on them. Regaining his stance, he realized she had already begun to head back. "H-hey! Wait up!"

"Don't go and get tired again. You're on your own in you do." She said with an air of indifference.

Edward found himself confused at the girl's shift in attitude. "Did I, uh…do something?"

"Hmm…let me see." Tsunai said sarcastically. "It slipped my mind. You'll have to find out yourself."

The boy's face faltered as she pretended like nothing was wrong. "I didn't _do_ anything."

"That's right. Its more of what you didn't do."

"What didn't I do?" The boy shrugged. "It wouldn't kill to give me a hint! There are a lot of things I haven't done in life."

"Playing dumb huh? Okay, fine."

The girl put down her share of firewood and turned to him. "Say I just made a bunch of noise and got a bunch of Pokémon angry at us. What would you do?"

The trainer scoffed. "Please. I would just get my Pokémon and…"

His eyes went wide as he realized the threat had no counter he was capable of. "You wouldn't."

"Of course I wouldn't." She implied sarcastically. "I also wouldn't run away and leave you behind."

He snickered at the girl. "Ha! That's funny. You think you can outrun me." That was the one thing he was confident of.

"Fast enough." She stated overconfidently. "And definitely longer."

The last part of her remark managed to get him riled up.

"You know what?" He approached her, getting in her face. "I triple-dare you. Just be ready to eat dust."

Tsunai smirked at the shorter boy, walking back towards the forest. She took a deep breath and let out a long, earsplitting scream from the top of her little girl voice.

"Ouch…" Edward moaned, uncovering his ears as they stopped hurting.

Bird Pokémon fly away in the distance. The thicket of the forest rustled closer and closer. Just as the two children prepared to take off, a horde of startled Rattata bolted from the forest and past the two. One brushed Tsunai's leg as it passed, making her jump with yet another scream.

She clutched on to the boy beside her as a shield while he kept his attention on the darkening forest. It grew silent, and he suddenly burst out laughing.

"What are you laughing at!?" Tsunai let go of him as he doubled over, looking quite peeved as she didn't find it funny at all.

"You! Y-you're such a Scaredy-Meowth!"

"I **hate** those things!" She argued, referring to the purple mouse pokemon.

"So…so do I!" He tried to breathe. "But scared? What, are you gonna run away from Magikarp too?"

The girl grew increasingly annoyed with his teasing. "I am _not_ scared of Magi-"

Her sentence got cut short as she noticed something rustling the bushes once again. It proved not to be the timid Rattata that ran by before.

Tsunai preemptively took a step back, nudging the snickering child in warning as she did so. "Edge…"

The laughter faded as he recognized it as well. The idea that it was something bigger was quickly proven as several Raticate emerged. He counted fifteen. As they slowly approached them with a low growl it showed they weren't going to just run past them.

"Why are their eyes filled with so much hate?" Tsunai asked nervously as her legs trembled slightly under her. Edward backed up next to her, not willing to take his eyes off of the pack as he replied.

"I don't know, but I'm sorry. I shouldn't have laughed earlier, because right now? I'm pretty scared."

"Me too. Run?"

"Run."

The two turned tail and took off, pumping their legs even harder as they heard the scurrying Pokémon after them.

.

.

* * *

**A/N: As long as it took to add this chapter, at least I can say chapter 8 will be done in no time. In fact, it's done already! So if you're still reading this with interest, you can go ahead and jump to the next one. Thanks for reading and I hope you'll keep it up. If you have any questions/comments, leave them in a review. I'll reply as the next chapter is put up if needed.**


	9. Let the subject drop

**Chapter 8**

"**Let the subject drop"**

* * *

**.**

**.**

The two children were surprisingly keeping their distance with the horde of Raticate pursuing them. They would try to broaden the gap by jumping a ledge they felt the rat Pokémon would fail to land, but were proven wrong time after time.

Tsunai panted as she stumbled in near exhaustion. "This isn't working out..."

Edward raised an eyebrow at her. "Did you really expect it to? Deciding to startle a bunch of Pokémon wasn't exactly an award-winning idea." He pointed out.

"I thought you would give up before it got to that!" The girl pointed out in a harsh tone. "You were just too stubborn."

The trainer rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Honestly, I thought you were just bluffing."

"Ha! I never bluff." She stated proudly, even in the midst of being chased. Edward just glared at her with an expression showing he was not impressed.

"It wouldn't have killed you to, just this once..."

The pair jumped a fallen log as the Pokémon behind them simply split around it. Wherever in the area they were, the forest was beginning to get more and more clustered with trees, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to run around them side by side.

"How likely do you think it is that they're only chasing us because we're running?" The girl sprinting beside him asked almost hopefully. As if to answer the question, one of the Raticate proved to be close enough to snap at Edward's feet, even using enough force as to make a noise when it's jaws slammed shut.

"Woah!" was all he could exclaim as the pursuer's teeth only slightly failed to catch something. "Does that answer your question!?"

Not caring how he got the creature away from his leg, the trainer thrusted his foot back at it blindly. Surprisingly, yet to his relief, he felt his foot hit something. The kick sent the Rat Pokémon rolling backwards as he took a quick glance behind him. It was only phased for a moment, shaking it off before joining the others in the pursuit once again, looking even angrier now.

"Edge look out!"

Turning back around in fear, his body went into shock as he only narrowly maneuvered around the tree in front of him, and very clumsily at that.

"We need to separate!" Tsunai shouted to him, now further away.

"Why?" He had to shout back. Yet another tree got in his way, forcing him to dodge to the side.

"That's why! Now, you go to your left! I'll go right! They'll probably split up!" The girl instructed. "We'll use our Pokémon to scare them off, then meet back up!"

"B-but…but…!" He exclaimed to her. "You know I can't do that!"

"You're gonna have to!"

The volume of her voice was fading; leading him to believe she had already went her direction. He went left like she mentioned, hearing what may have been the popping sound of a pokéball as he did so.

Despite what the girl had told him to do, he couldn't lead himself to call out Kasukedo. If he were to do this, wouldn't his Wartortle just be getting further out of his reach? It seemed like a tough choice.

SNAP! Another Raticate clamped its teeth near his heels.

Then again…

Edward grabbed the pokéball from his side, tossing it straight up to hear it materialize his Pokémon. His arms were stretched out expectantly, catching the pokéball in hand before the water type fell in to them. Keeping his pace, the boy hoisted his partner onto his shoulder, allowing it to get its own grip. He felt the weight on him to be more than he expected, loathing the fact that it was no longer a lesser-weight Squirtle.

"I know you see them already." He said to the Pokémon. Kasukedo was perched facing the opposite direction of its trainer, the luxurious tail brushing his face occasionally as he ran. "Could you please just…you know…send them packing?"

"War Wartortle." He couldn't see the Pokémon's expression, but assuming how he didn't hear the force of an attack following after, he took the answer as a 'no'.

"Kasu, please!"

War Wartortle!"

The trainer grabbed the Pokémon from his shoulder, holding the stubborn Pokémon in front of his face. His Wartortle gave a scornful look at him, for reasons he couldn't begin to think of.

He was quite fed up of this by now. The trainer was worried about what would happen to the two of them. There was also Tsunai, who was fending for herself all alone. He couldn't imagine why his Pokémon wouldn't help in such a dangerous time. Did he not realize he could be attacked as well?

"Look!" Edward shouted, reminding himself to keep moving his legs. "This is not some small favor! I NEED your help! So could you PLEASE just…"

The trainer lost concentration on what he was saying.

The ground felt so absent underneath his feet that he felt the need to look at it.

…!

Now that he had, he wished he hadn't.

Somewhere amidst his bickering toward the Pokémon, he'd ran out of ground and ran clean off a ledge. Still looking down out of shock, he shut his eyes as he felt to be falling even faster now.

"I'm sorry for yelling! I'M SORRY! For the love of Arceus…JUST HELP ME!" The terror stricken boy gripped his Pokémon close, begging it to help somehow.

The blur turtle Pokémon shook its head at the now spineless Boy of a Trainer, and shot a jet of water for the ground below. Finding it hard to get a good force going with the speed of their fall, Wartortle put in extra effort. Edward felt the pressure from the attack even though he dared not open his eyes, only hoping the Pokémon would come through with whatever it was trying to do.

This would only prove to be one of the shortest journeys ever otherwise.

*o*o*o*o*

The terrified pack of Raticate ran off with their tails between their legs, tripping over themselves and sopping wet.

Tsunai gave a sigh of relief as the red beam returned to her Pokeball. "That was a close call. I though my first battle was going to end up really messy for a second there."

She was completely exhausted now, wiping the sweat from her forehead with the back of her forearm. "Speaking of messy first battles…"

Now that the worst was over, the girl intuitively ran back in the direction she came, realizing that only half of the situation had been dealt with. Her mind went to the boy she'd told to go the other way and wondered if he'd managed to fend for himself. There was a good chance he had, and even still, she couldn't be sure. She recalled the trainer's doubt of his Pokémon's will to even listen, but in a situation like this…well, why wouldn't it?

Tsunai kept in the general direction she last saw him run off as she tried to find him. Bird Pokémon would chirp overhead and others would rustle the bushes, making her think he was close by in what seemed like a cruel trick. To her surprise, she found herself were the forest ended, as well as the ground.

"He had to go this way…" She said in protest to what her eyes were seeing. The girl looked left and right. Looking for anything the person in question could have used to pass through.

Nothing.

As she could only see treetops from the high point, Tsunai tried calling his name. It only echoed across the sky and faded. No reply came back.

She found herself at a loss for words. Where on earth did that boy go?

That's when she heard something. She'd heard a lot of noises of Pokémon in the woods so far, but this sound was new. It sort of sounded like…

"A Wartortle?" The girl guessed, hearing the faint sound below. She walked closer to the ledge, kneeled down and looked over in curiosity.

For a moment, all she saw out of the regular was a lone mud puddle. The irritated girl leaned closer for a better look, but not too close.

There was, in fact, a Wartortle down there, standing on something faintly Green. She couldn't quite make it out since it was covered in mud. Upon closer inspection, she could see…black hair?

That last observation jogged her brain. Much to her dismay, there was no doubt.

"Oh no…"

*o*o*o*o*

It took a while to find a way down to the two. Even then, the girl's panic hadn't worn down one bit. She waded into the ankle deep mud, just a bout ready to cry as she reached the still person lying face down in the middle. The Wartortle on his back was shaking him gently, but to no avail.

Tsunai was not nearly as careful about it. She kneeled down and shook the boy as hard as she could, with hope he would only move. The water Pokémon move to the other side of him, still silent.

"E-edge? Edge, Get up." She continued shoving him, growing more upset every moment he stayed still. "Are you okay? What happened!? Answer me!"

For a moment, She looked up to the ledge she had been on. Her eyes feel back the large pool of mud, and back to the Pokémon in front of her. She pieced it together finally, and that was enough to make the tears finally fall.

"Y-you…you…" Her voice wavered, choking up on her sentence. "Big dummy."

She gave in to how helpless she was feeling and just fell forward, crying into his back

A moment passed before she thought she heard a small cough. She raised her head, turning her tear-streaked face to Kasukedo, who was looking apprehensively at its trainer.

This time the boy's body lurched underneath her with the coughing, growing violently before he coughed up a mouthful of mud. "Ugh…Kasu.."

The girl was still bent forward onto his back, but was more upright now. "Edge?"

Edward stayed silent for a moment, but the rising and falling of his chest was there. "Tsu..Tsunai?"

"I'm here!" She replied instantly.

"Can…you. Do me a favor?" He said in broken sentences. His voice sounded really strained.

"What? What is it?"

"Stop…stop pressing. On my back? It's…really hard….to breathe." He got out finally.

Tsunai jolted straight up and backed away from him as if he may die on her if she didn't.

Well, that wasn't entirely ridiculous right now…

She leaned toward him front where she was. "Is…that better?"

"…Not really." He stuggled, even with that short sentence as he felt the aching in his ribs. "It hurts…even to do that."

The girl cautiously inched toward him again, as if worried she'd hurt him. "Um…how bad are you hurt?"

"Everything…hurts. Real bad." He seethed through his teeth.

"Maybe…it would be better if," She started, wondering if the suggestion was asking too much of the poor boy. "You sit upright."

She saw him make a brief effort to move. "Can't. I can't move my…right arm. Or…My left leg." He winced in pain as he tried once again to move them.

"W-well, you did fall…from pretty high." The girl needlessly pointed out, before adding with uncertainty "I think they may be broken."

Very unexpected to her, the boy let a small chuckle escape. "I could…only imagine I'd be completely broken, or worse…" He trailed off. "If it…weren't for Kasukedo."

The mud covered trainer finally managed to push himself from the ground, albeit with his only working arm. The single motion made his body coarse with pain, but he wanted to take look at Kasukedo. Finally managing to turn his body to the Pokémon, he realized he was completely fine, which didn't shock him in the slightest since he _did_ have a shell.

"I really…owe you one, Kasukedo." The boy smiled through the pain. The Pokémon turned away even still, but it was different than before. The look on his partners face gave him the feeling that his gratification was, in the least, noted.

"Still though!" Tsunai piped up. "You're really messed up!"

"Tell me about it." Edward moaned.

"Here," Tsunai approached him carefully, standing up before him. "I'll try to help you up."

The small girl got a grip under both of his arm and lifted. Managing to get him off the muddy ground, He himself managed to push his weight up with his functioning leg, making sure to keep the other off of the ground. With all of the mud on him, he felt a little more weighed down though.

"Thanks." He commented, making the girl give a weak smile in return. The boy used the arm that wasn't too injured to reach for his Wartortle's pokéball. "Thanks again. Return." He recalled the Pokémon with its red beam before placing it in his pocket again.

"Okay, gonna try moving, ok?" Tsunai warned him.

"Right."

She helped him stay standing as he kept his arm around her, matching her pace to his as he tried hopping forward on the single foot. Tsunai could tell he was feeling pain from it all.

"Take your time."

Edward just nodded, not wanting to try turning right now. After a couple of moments, they managed to escape the swamped part of the ground, and the boy was able to speed up a little more.

"You know," he began with slight grunt. "I think I may know why your friends were so quick to pair us together the way they were."

The statement piqued the girls interest. "What? Are you serious?"

"Yea. You're too nice to me." He paused for a moment. "And then some."

Tsunai didn't find the answer all that appealing. "Oh am I? Maybe I should just let you do your own walking then."

"I didn't mean anything bad by it." He made clear. "What I mean is…I mean, we hardly know each other! And still here you are, practically letting me use you as a crutch."

"You could really word things nicer, you know." The cyan-haired girl glowered. "And I really can't leave you here. Not like…_this._" she gestured to his person with her free hand.

"It was…even before this." He pointed out. "Back in pallet, you…stood up for me."

"Well so did you." The girl replied. "Need I remind you why you have a Wartortle?"

He couldn't help but laugh at how defensive she got. "I know why I did that: your friends are really bossy. But you didn't point out any reason for what you did."

"It was just the right thing to do!"

"Was it? " He couldn't help but question the legitimacy of her reason. "You defend me in moments you could've let slip. You try to hear out my problems, and didn't let up when I wouldn't say. You took on most of those Raticate by yourself, I noticed. And here you are now, helping me instead of having gone to get help instead."

The girl realized hadn't even gotten the chance to think that last one over, let alone think. Her face grew slightly pink in embarrassment. "…So?"

"So?" He repeated as if the statement were strange. At this point he was ready to get to the point in one word.

"Why?"

"Well…I don't know."

Edward was unable to see if she was serious, or avoiding the question. He gave her the most questioning look from the corner of his eye as they continued on, shaking his head with a laugh. "You're so weird."

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	10. First of the Hardest Days End

**A/N: This chapter took longer than I thought. It wasn't so much the events, but my opinion of the wording of it all that delayed it. I still think it needs work.**

**Chapter 9**

"**First of the Hardest Days End"**

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It was far past dusk now, and the sky above them had turned dark, the only light visible being the faint glittering of the stars. Edward had to hobble the entire way back; Tsunai had to hold him up so he wouldn't fall to the ground while doing so. The task of making it back to where they were proved to take hours, the sun abandoning them and letting the moon take its shift of watching over the two. The children were physically exhausted beyond what they were used to and, by now, were somewhat questioning their own ability to take on a continuous journey.

Well, one more so than the other.

The shock of his injuries went away moments after. Tsunai had gotten the mess of a boy up and began to make their way back up.

That's when his injuries began to _really_ hurt.

He tried to stay composed through all the hurt, but he felt a pain that surpassed all others and inevitably ended up crying it out. It was truly excruciating and the fact that his body grew tired only increased that feeling. The girl supporting him didn't think anything of it other than the wrenching guilt she was feeling at the moment.

The long amount of time beside him- really getting a look at how badly he was injured- it made her want to cry right along with him. The incident was her fault the way she saw it. Had she only relented a bit about getting the boy to talk, and not started trouble for them both, he'd be walking on his own.

"I-it's...n-not your fault." He sniffled, wiping the tears from his face.

Tsunai looked at him sadly. "How did you…?"

"You look so guilty." He sounded choked up. "And…I can't say you caused me to end up this way. Seeing you look like that makes _me_ feel guilty."

She however, wasn't giving in. "But it was all my fault! I'm the one who-"

"NO." the boy shouted over her, regretting it as he felt a pang in his chest. "_I'm_ the one who ran off the cliff, like an idiot. So unless you _pushed_ me, it's not your fault."

The girl looked down sullenly, telling him she didn't feel as convinced.

"I don't lie to make people feel better." He told her. "I'll say it again: It. Is not your fault. Got it?"

He looked at her in a way that meant he wouldn't give up until she agreed. Tsunai simply nodded, glancing his way before they began moving again.

After what seemed an eternity, the two stumbled to where they initially planned to camp. What was new to the site though, was the roaring fire and the extra sleeping bags.

"What's the big idea?" The cyan-haired girl was feeling irritated and cranky by now. "Do people not know what 'taken' means?"

One of the bags sat upright suddenly, startling the living daylights out of the exhausted pair. They realized then that there was a person in it.

"Hey! Sleeping here! Beat it!" The girl voice shouted at them. Illuminated by the light of the fire, the face belonged to a familiar person.

Tsunai looked at her with a sort of displacement. "Namiko?"

"Tsunai?" The girl's tone changed. "What in the world are you doing? Eww…you're covered in mud!"

"Heh…yea…" Tsunai replied weakly.

A yawn came from on of the other sleeping bags. This time Sheri was the one to awaken, rubbing one of her eyes as she looked at the two. "Tsunai? Where were you? We looked for hours." She informed her. "And…Eww. Why are you covered in mud?"

Her friend gave a humored smile as she brought that up once more. "Well, there was a bit of a slip-up."

"More like slip-off…" Edward muttered, still feeling terrible. Apparently the two companions of Tsunai hadn't noticed him, because they jumped back a bit in their sleeping bags, or at least tried.

"It's you again!" Namiko pointed at the boy as if pointing out a convict. "What's your deal?! You like sneaking up on people or something?"

Edward only blinked at the blond girl. "I've been here the whole time…"

"You look like a shadow in all of that gunk." She commented rather harshly, referring to his mud-coated body.

He stayed quiet, neither in the mood nor the condition to reply to the hostile girl's remark.

The girl beside him brushed a little of the mud off of herself. "Anyway, we got into some things…and he's hurt pretty bad. I had to help him back here."

"Ok, so…what happened?" Sheri inquired.

"Raticate." She announced. "A lot of them. We had to fight them off, and it was hard just to do that! Right Edge?"

The trainer couldn't help but feel awkward, remembering how he never did such. At the moment though, he wasn't willing to point that out.

"R-right."

"Why are you holding on to him like that?" Namiko couldn't help but to question. "Isn't he at least able to use his own two feet?"

Edward was caught by surprise as Tsunai stepped forward without him.

"No." She said for him. "And leave him alone, ok? I think he's had enough for one day."

For a moment, it there was no sound among them besides the faint crackling of the fire.

"W-what? You're telling me he can't?"

For only for a second, Namiko glanced at the boy with, for the first time since their meeting, a look that didn't make him mad.

"Come on, Edge. Sit down already."

The girl placed a firm hand on his shoulder, helping him to sit on the log in front of the fire. Before he even knew what she was doing, she started slipping the filthy jacket off of him, starting with the injured arm.

"H-hey! That's mine!" He said rather protectively, even as he complied and allowed her to slip it off the other arm.

Tsunai shook it a bit, breaking off some of the dirt that was caked on it. "Its dirty and soaked! Do you want to catch a cold?"

The only boy trainer suddenly felt in the wrong for shouting. "…No."

"Good. At least you're thinking." She smiled. The girl made her way over to a rock and gratefully threw the garment onto it. "I'm beginning to hate mud. I need to go change."

"There's a tent over there." Sheri announced, pointing over to her left.

Surely enough, the bigger-than-average orange tent was assembled at the end furthest from the path, illuminated lightly from the inside.

"When you go in to change, don't go dripping all over Hari and Hana." Sheri warned her with a slight smirk. Tsunai nodded gratefully, grabbed her bag from the ground before quickly disappeared into the girls' sleeping quarters.

Edward sat there trying to think of where he'd go to change. Did he really have to hide in a bush or something? Just to change clothes? It seemed awkward. With the terrible sensation his body was feeling, it was also a struggle. The trainer still wasn't sure about the condition his arm or leg, but he was certainly not about to try moving them right now!

"So what on earth happened to you?"

The boy perked up, looking at the redhead in amazement. "What? You're talking to me?"

"You make it sound like everyone hates you," Sheri commented to the bewildered boy. "I don't know what makes you think that."

At that remark, he turned his eyes to the blonde girl sitting beside her.

"What?"

"Okay, I can't speak for her." Sheri pointed to the girl. "I can for myself. I don't hate you or anything. As long as you don't do anything out of line."

The boy shifted uncomfortably. "Oh. Cool…"

It was then that he realized the well-forgotten question. "Oh, yeah! I uh, fell. Kasukedo is the reason I'm pretty dirty. At least I'm not as hurt."

"Not as hurt as what? You look terrible…" She sympathized with him. "And Tsunai said you can't stand?"

"Um, nope." He smiled sheepishly. The girl just shook her head at the boy, not quite knowing what to think.

"So, uh…is there any chance I can use the tent to change?" he tried asking, only getting a weird look from her.

"You're a boy, right?"

"Yes."

"Then no. And even if that was ok, it was really only for five." She explained. Even though he didn't like the answer, he could at least respect it with the way she told him.

"Okay."

At this point he expected a comment from the seemingly-always-angry blonde, but as it turned out, she had fallen asleep somewhere along the conversation.

"I gotta ask: what's with _her_?"

Sheri sat more upright. "Oh, Namiko? I don't know…she's just a little hateful towards boys, probably because-"

"No not her. I'm talking about Tsunai." He pointed towards the tent.

The person he was more curious about was confusing to her. "Tsunai? What about her?"

"What I mean is, why is she so nice?"

The question still struck her as odd. "Well, define 'nice'."

Edward had to think on exactly what he was trying to point out. "Hard to say."

"Like how she seems to make sure she does what she can and then some? How come she does that even though she hardly knows you?"

He felt like she hit the nail on the head. "Yea that's it!"

"Maybe I'll be able to explain that later." She said simply, turning on her side in the sleeping bag and closing her eyes with a yawn. "Not now though."

He was left in a lost state as the subject was put off so quickly. "Why not?"

"Why not what?"

The voice behind him did too good a job of scaring him right out of his seat. As he fell backwards off of the log and hit the ground, he noticed Tsunai standing over him. What he assumed were her pajamas were pretty simple. She just wore a long sleeve shirt and pants (although black wasn't the color he was expecting). She also had her hair let down, surprising him slightly at just how long and wavy it came out to be.

He lied on his back looking quite irritated with her. "Could you maybe stop doing that?"

Tsunai helped him to his feet. "It's not my fault you're so off guard."

He brushed off the girl's comment. "Whatever."

"You are going to change, right?" She looked as though the idea of skipping it

The filth covered trainer got a good look at his self. The very color of his clothing was unrecognizable under the heavy mix of water and dirt. "Yuck. I suppose I need to. But I still can't move my arm. And putting on pants one leg at a time? Yea, that's a problem right now."

Tsunai shook her head at him sympathetically. "Yep. Pretty sure they're broken now."

"I'll figure it out myself. For now I need to wash up." He decided. There was a moment of thinking on the decision before realizing a prime issue. "Uh…where?"

"Well, there was a river…" The girl brought up, pointing in the direction where she'd seen it.

It obviously wasn't evident of what places he had access to when it came to hygiene. Of course he'd kept Pokémon centers in mind, but the thought had not crossed his mind about when he wouldn't be there. Realizing it now didn't help things.

"So I have to take a bath in a river." He looked for confirmation that he heard that correctly, receiving a nod from her.

"Well this is going to be weird." He gave a sigh and hopped a few steps before quickly being grabbed by the arm.

"You're just going by yourself?"

"Um, yea." His tone made it clear he wouldn't even explain why he needed privacy for something so obvious.

"Well I can at least help you there, right? No point in hopping around everywhere."

There was a reluctance he didn't voice as she helped him keep balance in his steps once again. Even though she didn't help him as much as before, the ten-year-old couldn't help but feel helpless with her helping him constantly. Was there anything he _could_ do himself at this point? It was beginning to drive him crazy. Well, maybe not crazy…but he was getting there!

It was eerily silent as they made their way through. They took about five minutes before the faint sound of running water hit their ears, Tsunai being the first to notice. "We're close."

Edward was having a hard time focusing with his current state of mind. The girl helping him along took to sudden of a step for him, making another pang go through his back. "Ow! I mean, great."

Tsunai led the two toward the noise and reached the end of the common scenery of trees. A wide river lay before them, providing passage to a splashing Magikarp or two as they were taken away with the current. The water appeared almost black in the pitch dark of night and gave off a shaky reflection of the moonlight.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" The girl gently released her supporting grip of the boy. "Go on!"

"Fine. You've got to turn around though."

He knew didn't need to say more as the request was acted on rather quickly and without a word. Even then, there was hesitation as he began taking off piece after piece of clothing. Although it felt good to shed the grimy attire, he decided that the final fabric was most certainly staying on. The pile of dirty clothes was picked up as he began wading into the cool water that eventually rose above his waist. The light floating the water gave to his body finally gave him the privilege of letting his other leg touch the ground, even if it was just barely. Feeling the dirt being swept off of his body by the current, the feeling of getting clean almost felt new to him. He could only imagine how dirty the water looked now if he could only see it.

There was a shout from the riverbank. "Are you done yet?"

The boy didn't realize just how long it had taken, but he felt great now. "Yep! I'm definitely clean enough." He wrung the pieces of his outfit the best he could one-handed and headed back to land.

"Finally!" She stood up rather hastily, getting scolded as she started to turn around.

"Just one more minute!" He pleaded. The last thing he needed was for things to get embarrassing.

An agitated groan could be heard from the increasingly restless girl while he moved as hastily to his bag as one leg allowed. All of the damp clothing was slung over a low-lying tree branch as he rustled through his bag for spare ones. "Found them."

It was obvious he wasted more than 'just one minute' trying to get the pair of blue jeans on, but getting them on without much pain to his leg and using his non-dominant arm to hold them in place proved to be a tough skill. Luckily, shirts were very easy still.

The clothes he hung up before were taken down and draped over his shoulder. "Okay I'm done. For real this time."

Tsunai staggered as she stood up once again, "If only you'd finished before my leg fell asleep!" the girl whined. "You know how hard it is to…"

She quickly cut the sentence short, but not soon enough to leave him without a clue.

"What? Hobble? I would think so." The new trainer smirked as he propped a hand to support himself against the tree trunk. "Anyway, just wake it up. I'm sort of forced to rely on you to help me back." He reminded her.

The girl gave a light stomp on the numbed leg, but the feeling in the joints proved to be strange and unpleasant and she found the action regrettable. "I know that! It's not that easy though."

Edward gave the situation some thought. "Hmm…maybe soaking it would help?"

The boy's idea wasn't exactly the greatest, but it was at least something to try. She made her way over to the river's edge, slipping off her sock and shoe. A foot was dipped into the water, stirring it around leisurely as she tried to get the sensation to stop. Suddenly, she felt something take hold of her foot. The shock that ran up the girl's spine made her scramble away from the water.

"Aah! Get it off! Get it off!" She kicked the foot frantically in hopes that whatever it was would release. Sure enough, it was sent through the air, revealing it to be nothing more than the common Magikarp as it disappeared into the body of water with a splash.

Aside from her progressively calming breaths, it was silent aside from the noises of flowing water. She turned with glare to the boy behind her, a wide smirk spread across his face as he tried his hardest not to laugh.

"Not. A. Word." She warned him.

"So…" Edward smiled even though Tsunai looked ready to hit him. "Is your leg awake now?"

The surprised look on her face made it clear that she was expecting some smart remark. Even with that, she wasn't convinced he wouldn't bring it up later.

"Let's just get out of here."

"Wait a second," the boy objected as she attempted to help him. "Don't you want to wash up too?"

Tsunai shook her head with a short laugh. "It can wait until we get to Viridian. I'm not getting in that river."

He couldn't help but to roll his eyes._ 'Just like a girl…'_

By the time they reached the campsite again, the young trainer became increasingly aware of just how long they had gone without eating. As he sat on the ground, his stomach let out a low growling sound, and Tsunai seemed to perk up out of her fatigue.

"What was that?"

The boy smiled shyly up to the girl standing up next to him. "Sorry- that was me. I'm…kind of hungry."

"I would be too by now," she began. "That is, if I had also left before they had given out food."

There was a brief moment as the comment registered in his head. "What!?"

"Yea…you should've stayed. They ordered pizza for the new trainers." She seemed aware for how much it bothered him. "I would've got you a slice, but they wouldn't let me."

It was the typical sort of groans from the boy that would be heard from any highly disappointed child. The very thought of missing out on his favorite food, pretty much topped this whole day off as the worst ever. He was trying during that moment to wrap his head around where he'd gone instead of sticking around. He remembered finally, and that's when it hit him- he wouldn't have to go hungry tonight after all!

He threw his backpack in front of him in a newfound haste, sitting it in his lap as he fumbled through it with his hand. He found the objects he was looking for finally: two round shapes covered in a foil wrapper. The boy seemed almost happy as he unwrapped one to reveal a rather large burger.

"Huh?" Tsunai observed the food she had been unaware he had, pointing at it. "When did you get _that_?"

He almost seemed to hold it up with a sense of victory. "For once today, I was prepared. Everything else may have gone bad, but at least it won't end on a empty stomach!"

The girl watched with skepticism as the boy bit down rather eagerly and chewed like he was truly savoring the food. A few seconds passed however, and his expression faded. The chewing motion slowed to a stop, and began to show a rather unpleasant expression instead, holding the burger out in front of him.

"Edge?" She spoke finally as he just sat there, beginning to look teary-eyed. "What's the matter?"

He turned to her with his mouth still full and a sad look on his face, almost making her believe he was going to have an emotional breakdown. He tried keeping his mouth shut as he told her.

Hearing the problem, she could only shake her head at him in sympathy, not knowing what else to do.

Why _wouldn't_ that burger be cold by now?

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**A/N: I realize the time is moving rather slowly, seeing how it's still the first day after nine chapters. It wont always be that way. I'll make sure the longest a day gets is around 1 to 3 at the most, unless something major is occurring, otherwise this will probably seem like a huge ramble. If anything, the chapters will be longer. Anyway, if its been enjoyable so far then stay tuned for the next.**


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